How did Germany and Italy invade and expand in Africa?

On August 4th, the 1940 and 17 infantry battalions of the Italian army, supported by armored forces and artillery, invaded British Somalia from Ethiopia and Eritrea which had been occupied earlier. Two days later, the Italian army occupied Hargeisa and other places, and began to attack the main position of the British army in Tuagan on August 1 1. There are only 1 1,500 British troops stationed in Somalia, and they were forced to evacuate from Berbera to Aden by boat in August of 15 ~ 17. On August 20th, British Somalia was completely occupied by Italian troops. In Sudan (geographical location belongs to North Africa, and fighting is related to East Africa) and Kenya, Italian troops successively captured Kassala town in Sudan, Garabat town in Kenya and Moyale town. However, the people of British Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia launched extensive guerrilla warfare, forcing the Italian army to stop attacking in this area.

The British army took the opportunity to expand its troops in Sudan and Kenya to 6.5438+0.5 million, and also strengthened Egypt's defense forces. At the end of August, the British aircraft carrier Glory, 1 battleship and two cruisers sailed into Alexandria with the support of Gibraltar's sub-fleet.

After a period of preparation, the British soldiers split into two groups and began a large-scale counterattack in East Africa in June 194 1 1. 65438+ 10 19, British troops at the northern foot launched a counterattack against Eritrea from the northeast of Sudan, and captured Karen, the gateway to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, on March 27th. 1 April, British troops occupied Asmara. On April 8th, Italian troops stationed in massawa naval base surrendered, and the British captured 15000 Italian troops and sank many Italian ships.

British troops in South Road194165438+10 invaded Italy on October 24th, occupied Mogadishu on February 25th, and then went north to Ethiopia. On March 25th, British troops occupied harrell. On April 6, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, was captured. On May 18, Duke Aosta led the main Italian army to surrender in Anba Alaji Mountain in northern Ethiopia. In the northwest of Ethiopia, the remnants of the recalcitrant Italian army surrendered on1October 28th. East Africa completely fell into the hands of the British.

Italy's invasion and expansion in North Africa was a little later than that in East Africa. The Italian army has two group armies in Libya-10 Group Army's nine divisions are deployed on the eastern border of Egypt, ready to attack Egypt at any time; The 5th Army was deployed in the west to cover the direction of Tunisia. In order to strengthen the defense against North Africa, the British army transferred some Commonwealth troops to Egypt and transported 1/3 tanks from Dunkirk there. When the Italian army attacked, the British Nile Army stationed in North Africa had two divisions and two brigades, of which 1 division was launched at the border with Israel.

1940 September 13, the Italian army 10 crossed the border with six infantry divisions and eight armored battalions and launched an attack on the British army. After a short period of resistance, the British army retreated across the board. On the same day, the Italian army occupied Selum, and three days later captured Sidi Beranyi. However, the Italian army became increasingly difficult to supply and was forced to stop attacking. Later, the British army continued to retreat to the preset position near the port of Matru. As a result, a 130 km wide middle zone was formed between the two armies.

After the Italian army occupied Lani, Sidibe, it began to turn its attention to the Greek battlefield. 10 year1October 28th, Italian troops invaded Greece and continued to fight in Africa. The British Nile Army took this opportunity to adjust its deployment and added two divisions to prepare to expel the Italian army from Egypt. On February 9, 65438, the British army launched a limited target counterattack against the Italian army with 1 armored division and 1 infantry division. The British army unexpectedly attacked the rear of the Italian army through the gap between them. The command of the Italian army failed, and a large number of Italian troops surrendered without fighting.

65438+February 1 1, the British recaptured Sidibe Laney. 65438+February 17, occupied Selum. Italian troops hastily withdrew from Egypt and retreated to Libya. In pursuit of victory, the British army occupied the Libyan fortress Belder in 194 1 year1October 5, and occupied Tubruk in 654381October 22. On February 1 1, the 5th German Light Armored Division 1 arrived in Libya as the first troops to go to Africa. The next day, Lieutenant General erwin rommel flew to Tripoli, where he met with General Gariboldi, commander-in-chief of the Italian army. 18, the German army officially named the troops sent to Libya "German African Army", with Rommel as the commander. In order to strengthen this African army, Hitler strengthened L tanks for the 5th Light Armored Division and decided to set up 15 Armored Division for North Africa.

On April 4th, the German-Italian coalition forces first captured Benghazi, and then surrounded the Tubrugg fortress on April 1 1. By mid-April, the German-Italian allied forces had reached the Egyptian border and occupied all cyrenaica except Tubrugg. Rommel expected reinforcements before attacking Cairo, the capital of Egypt. However, Hitler was prepared to concentrate all available forces to invade the Soviet Union and stop sending troops to North Africa. The front line there has stabilized near the Egyptian border.

On April 30, the British troops who held the Tubrugg stronghold smashed the new attack of the German-Italian Coalition forces. On the Lyle border, the British army launched a counterattack on May 15, advancing to Selum and Fort caputo. Later, because the German-Italian Coalition forces strengthened their resistance, the British army withdrew its starting position two days later. On June 15, the British army launched a counterattack again after careful preparation, in an attempt to recapture the Harfar Pass and the border fortifications, thus advancing towards Tubrug and rescuing the besieged stronghold. The British army bypassed the southeast of Haffar's Asian Pass and advanced northward through Cappuco Castle. Soon, with the support of the 5th Light Armored Division, the German15th Armored Division finally stopped the British counterattack.

194 1 autumn, the main force of the German army fell into the Soviet-German battlefield, and its African army faced difficulties in supplying. Churchill believed that the British army should seize the fighter plane and the whole Libya, and urged the French army in North Africa to turn to the British side. General auchinleck, the new commander-in-chief of British troops in the Middle East, was ordered to attack boldly and seize the strategic initiative in North Africa. 194118 In the early morning, with the support of the air force and the Mediterranean Fleet, the British launched a "Crusade" campaign, crushing the German-Italian allied forces 10 division, lifting the enemy's siege of Tubrug and liberating cyrenaica. The main force of the British army carried out pincer assault on the German and Italian armored forces east of Tubrugg from Lido, Thai Medley Nai and Sidi Omar areas, and a unit carried out auxiliary assault from Jagebubu area to Ajaydabir, realizing tactical surprise. That night, the British army broke into Libya 80 kilometers deep. The next day, Sidi Rezeg, about 16 km south of Tubrug, was occupied. On the 20th, the British army completed the siege of the German-Italian allied forces, and the two sides launched a fierce tank battle in Sidi Rezeg. On 2 1 day, the British troops stationed in Tubrugg launched an attack with the support of tanks, preparing to meet the British troops in Sidi Rezeg. On the 25th, Rommel attacked the British rear on a large scale and failed to achieve remarkable results. On February 4, 65438, Rommel ordered the abandonment of the 242-day siege of Tubrug. The German-Italian Coalition forces retreated to Gazal in an attempt to stop the British from advancing westward. Under the continuous attack of the British army, the German-Italian allied forces were forced to retreat to Tripoli Tania. After the British advanced to Aguilar, they stopped pursuing. After two months of fighting, the British army advanced nearly 800 kilometers to the west, lifted the siege of Tubrugg, recovered cyrenaica, and destroyed 33,000 German-Italian allied forces at the cost of 1.77 million, but failed to complete the main task of eliminating the German-Italian African armored cluster.

Rommel was planning a counterattack while the German-Italian allied forces were withdrawing westward. Because he took a lot of deception measures, the preparation for counterattack was quite hidden. 1942 65438+1October 2 1 day, the German and Italian allied forces launched a counterattack, and the British army was caught off guard and retreated hastily. 65438+1On October 28th, the German-Italian coalition forces reoccupied Benghazi. On May 26th, Rommel launched the "Taixi" campaign with 10 divisions, about13,000 men, 6 10 tanks and 600 planes in an attempt to seize Egypt and March into the Near East. /kloc-in June, 2000, the German-Italian allied forces captured Birha Mu Kai./kloc-in June, 2004, the troops belonging to the British Eighth Army were expelled from Gazal. /kloc-in June of 0/9, the German-Italian allied forces concentrated their forces to besiege Tubrugg, and conquered the city two days later. The German-Italian allied forces continued eastward to pursue the defeated British army. On June 26th, the German-Italian allied forces surrounded the port of Matru in Egypt, and on the 28th, the British army surrendered to the city. On June 30th, the German-Italian coalition forces approached the British positions near aleman. 1~ In July of 3, Germany and Italy launched the first aleman campaign, which repeatedly attacked the British defensive positions. Since then, the German-Italian Coalition forces have been forced to stop attacking because of difficulties in logistics supply, lack of oil and limited troops, and the front is relatively stable.